Miaow

Indie pop cult favorites Miaow formed in Manchester, England, in 1984 -- singer/guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:0DSEDhUNnnQchKXKVJ9ScB">Cath Carroll</a>, a notorious habitué of the Factory Records-owned club the Hacienda and a New Musical Express writer (under the pseudonym <a href="spotify:artist:0DSEDhUNnnQchKXKVJ9ScB">Myrna Minkoff</a>), previously collaborated with bassist Steve Maguire, keyboardist Jonathan Bedford, and drummer Chris Fenner in the Gay Animals. After Miaow completed their 1985 debut single, "Belle Vue" for the Venus Records label, Maguire exited and with the additions of new bassist Ron Caine and lead guitarist Andy Winters, Miaow recorded "Sport Most Royal," their inclusion on the celebrated NME C-86 compilation tape that with its uniformly jangly, willfully primitive sound virtually defined British indie pop at the middle of the decade.

Miaow -- now consisting of <a href="spotify:artist:0DSEDhUNnnQchKXKVJ9ScB">Carroll</a>, Caine, Fenner, and keyboardist Joe Korner -- next signed to Factory to release the group's creative apex, 1987's "When It All Comes Down." An energetic and infectious burst of pop ephemera, it was famously covered in 1991 by the acclaimed U.S. band <a href="spotify:artist:0Hko1NgISX00BkCPOuyVzQ">Unrest</a>, who so worshipped <a href="spotify:artist:0DSEDhUNnnQchKXKVJ9ScB">Cath Carroll</a> that two years later they wrote a song in her honor for their final LP, Perfect Teeth, and even featured her photo on the cover. After a second Factory single, "Break the Code," Miaow began work on their first full-length effort -- provisionally titled Priceless Innuendo, the rough demos suggest a more electronic pop-inspired approach than past efforts, but the sessions stalled and the group splintered prior to the project's completion. After releasing England Made Me, a solo LP for Factory, <a href="spotify:artist:0DSEDhUNnnQchKXKVJ9ScB">Carroll</a> relocated to Chicago, ultimately releasing several solo discs for <a href="spotify:artist:0Hko1NgISX00BkCPOuyVzQ">Unrest</a> frontman <a href="spotify:artist:2KY8mhhCgmcvPOxgOk0yFU">Mark Robinson</a>'s TeenBeat label. In early 2003, the LTM label issued When It All Comes Down, collecting the entirety of Miaow's recorded output. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi